Uncompromising forwards the backbone of Cheika's Waratahs

July 08, 2014|By Nick Mulvenney | Reuters

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Anyone looking for the secrets to the success of the New South Wales Waratahs in Super Rugby this season would do well to remember that coach Michael Cheika was an uncompromising forward in his playing days.

As a number eight who helped form the platform which allowed the likes of Mark Ella and David Campese strut their stuff in the green of the Randwick club back in the 1980s, Cheika knows how important it is that the "big fellas" do their bit.

The Waratahs have never been short of a flamboyant back or two, and in Israel Folau and Kurtley Beale they currently have two of the best in the competition, but equally important in 2014 has been how the forwards have stood up.

Cheika promised a bit of "old school" coaching when he took over the Waratahs in 2012 after a season in which Australia's strongest and wealthiest province had lost eight successive matches and ended up 11th in the 15-team competition.

He has delivered on that promise and several others over the last two years and the Waratahs go into the last weekend of the regular season against the Queensland Reds with top spot in the standings and home advantage in the play-offs already secured.

"He certainly gets up you if you're not working hard and he doesn't mind giving you a little spray if he thinks you need to work harder.

"He doesn't want you to say something if you're not going to deliver. He's real big on a few old school things and I think it's been real good for my footie."

Douglas, 6ft 8in (2.02m) and 19st 5lb (123kg), forms part of an intimidating second row unit that Cheika has put together this season, which also includes hulking youngster Will Skelton and former Springbok Jacques Potgieter.

That trio along with rejuvenated number eight Wycliff Palu and openside flanker Michael Hooper have made the Waratahs a team to be seriously respected in the physical stakes this year.

"It's pretty basic sort of set-up for us forwards, we know what we're doing," Douglas added.

"(Cheika) likes his forwards to get stuck in, get physical and get dirty. Then let the backs do the work out wide.

"Having Willy and Potsy around, us three in the locks have just been bouncing off each other. When you see big hits and big carries that fires everybody up.

"When you see Jacques do something you think 'I wanna do that as well'."

The backs have done their part too, of course, and the high-scoring Waratahs have topped Super Rugby for metres run and passes made this season, enthusing even the notoriously fickle Sydney crowds.

Cheika's great enthusiasm for the game has been evident throughout his coaching career, which included a Heineken Cup triumph with Irish province Leinster and a less successful stint at another big, underperforming club, Stade Francais.

It has also got him into trouble on occasion, not least this year when he was handed a suspended six-month ban for abusing a cameraman during a defeat to the Sharks in Durban in March.

"His passion for the game and for life is something I've taken a lot from," Wallabies back Rob Horne said.

"It's been really good for the game in general to have someone come into the game and express his love for rugby and for the team.

"He's got in a bit of strife throughout the year, getting into trouble and what not, but that just shows his passion for the group and it can't be said enough how important that's been for us. There's a huge amount of respect for him."

Alongside the passion, though, goes his forensic attention to detail.

"He's a guy who knows what he wants to achieve and goes about putting a really good plan together to achieve that," said World Cup-winning Wallabies centre and Waratahs defence coach Nathan Grey.

"He then maintains the course and does not waver. That's very easy to say, not so easy to do."